Book Review: Fins Are Forever by Tera Lynn Childs

Title: Fins Are Forever

Author: Tera Lynn Childs
Series: Fins, #2
Pages: 298
Publisher: Templar
Date of Publication: 1st April 2012
Source: Publisher*
Synopsis from Goodreads: On Lily Sanderson’s eighteenth birthday she’ll become just a girl—still a mer girl, true, but signing the renunciation paperwork will ink Princess Waterlily of Thalassinia out of existence. That leaves plain old Lily living on land, dating the boy she loves, and trying to master this being human thing once and for all.

Now that Lily and Quince are together, mer-bond or not, she’s almost content to give up her place in the royal succession of Thalassinia. But just when she thinks she has everything figured out, Lily’s father sends a certain whirlpool-stirring cousin to stay with her on land. What did Doe do to get herself exiled from Thalassinia and stuck in terraped form, when everyone knows how much she hates humans? And why why why is she batting her eyelashes at Lily’s former crush, Brody?

The seafoam on the surf comes when a merboy from Lily’s past shows up. Tellin asks Lily for something that clouds her view of the horizon. There’s a future with Quince on land, her loyalty to the kingdom in the sea, and Lily tossing on the waves in the middle. Will she find a way to reconcile her love, her duty, and her dreams?

My Thoughts:
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll probably know that I absolutely loved the first book in this series - Forgive My Fins - when I read it last year. I was on the blog tour for it, and I just thought it was absolutely brilliant. It was cute and funny and just one of those books you can get lost in for a few hours (because they don't take long to read ;P ) and then feel all warm and mushy inside once you've finished them, because they are so adorable. And Fins Are Forever was much the same - absolutely brilliant.

Once I'd started reading, I quickly fell in love with Tera's writing all over again. Despite having not read any of her books for almost a year, I quickly made up another vivid picture of the places in which Lily was visiting in the book, and again, Thalassinia was amazing. I don't think I've ever been able to imagine a fictional place so well!

I thought Lily has grown up a lot in this book. In my review of Forgive My Fins, I said that I thought Lily was a bit self-centred and a tiny bit blind... But in Fins Are Forever, she thought more about others, and I think her decision to leave behind Thalassinia and live on land with Quince has forced her to mature and think for others and not just herself for once, and especially once Dosinia had arrived.

While I don't really like Dosinia, she made the story really interesting. I was always wondering what she was going to do next, what trouble she was going to get herself into... And while I kind of saw it coming, I didn't mind because her snide remarks and Lily's annoyance at her made me giggle. All the undersea insults and comebacks sounded so silly (like 'guppy') yet they took it seriously... It was funny, okay? ;P

I liked the plot in this - I got to learn more about how Thalassinia and the mer kingdom worked. It was nice to have it set equally in the sea and on land, and while I think I saw most of the plot coming (well, *some* of it) it was still good to read about - these books are pure fun, and it's awesome :D

Overall, Fins Are Forever wasn't quite as good as Forgive My Fins but it was still an awesome addition to the series that has left me eagerly awaiting the next one. I'd recommend to younger fans of YA fiction, or someone looking for something short and cute that they can lose themselves in for a few hours before resurfacing feeling light-hearted and happy ;P (Cheesy, I know! xD )

*Thanks to Templar Publishing for sending me this in exchange for an honest review! In no way has this affected my opinion of the book.